“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

Friday, 2 June 2017

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 02/06/2017: Foo Fighters, Oliver Tree, Washed Out and more…

THE BEST:

‘Welcome to LA’ –
Oliver Tree

Don’t be deceived by the mullet and windbreaker. Oliver Tree
is a cool dude. COOLER THAN YOU’LL EVER BE. Over a groovy beat that culminates
with a suave trumpet solo, the musician delivers some blistering bars against
the people of LA. Everyone from ‘plastic barbies’ to ‘drug addicts in a sleeping
bag’ are depicted in this lyrical painting of California’s most lovable hellhole.

‘Get Lost’ – Washed
Out

Washed Out aren’t washed up. Why should they be with all the
Portlandia royalties? The chillwave pioneers (I’m pluralising the band, but
really it’s a one-man-project) are still making music and this time round it’s spiky
jazz-house. The zonked-out vocals give me warm shivers.

‘Glitz’ – Testset

More glitchy than glitzy, this electronic instrumental is
the work of mystery producer Testset and it’s pretty innovative stuff. It
begins as a dense wall of digital percussion and stuttering sounds. Then midway
a mighty tide of synth creeps in and washes it all away. But then it all cuts
abruptly away and the track plummets back into a maelstrom of clicks and clacks
and bleeps. Not to mention bloops and blaps too.

‘Run’ – Foo Fighters

The Foos are getting on a bit, but wow, didn’t realise they’d
aged this much. Flashing grannies and hipster assault take place in the band’s
latest video centred in a riotous retirement home. As for the tune itself, it’s
sounding a lot less dad rock than their previous album’s material. There are
mosh-friendly riffs, Grohl screeches and flashing grannies. No, wait that last
one’s just the video. Sorry, I’m still traumatised.

‘The Lord of
Lightning vs Balrog’ - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

This 13 minute lo-fi rock odyssey is bloody mental, which is
what I expected from a song titled ‘The Lord of Lightning vs Balrog’.

THE WORST:

‘Strip That Down’ –
Liam Payne (feat. Quavo)

Generic strip club music is still a more positive direction than
One Direction, I’ll give Liam that.